Archie Poulos’ 2023 reading recommendations for pastors
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“Archie Poulos has given us a list of books that he’s read in the last 12 months that have stimulated him to think about different ministry areas.
Archie’s recommendations include …”
For your convenience, The Wandering Bookseller has compiled a page of Archie’s favourites.
Don’t take CMS Summer School for granted!
“I reflect on the 2023 CMS Summer School as someone who could only make it for one day.
I wish I could have attended more, but I was overseas. Yet, having landed in Sydney on the Monday of Summer School, I drove up to the Blue Mountains on Tuesday to attend for the day. It was definitely an experience; a combination of jet lag and the increased heart rate from walking up and down that hill – twice – after ten days of overeating over the holidays! And yet it was also an experience of being profoundly joyful and energised amongst fellow Christians.
As I drove back home late on Tuesday night, I remember thinking multiple times that we just can’t take CMS Summer School for granted. …”
– Ben George writes with encouragement at The Australian Church Record.
Glen Scrivener on the ‘Secular Sermon to Archbishop Justin Welby‘
Glen Scrivener at Speak Life responds to ‘a secular sermon’ open letter directed to the Archbishop of Canterbury by high profile UK TV presenter Sandi Toksvig.
Can we love people and disagree? Very helpful in thinking about how to respond to those with whom we disagree.
Preaching Trust Clubs in 2023
From The Expository Preaching Trust:
“The Trust is sponsoring clubs in Abbotsford, Armidale, Sutherland and Wahroonga. These Clubs meet 4 times each year and in one of the meetings feature a special guest.
Our special guest for 2023 is Phillip Jensen. Phillip will preach at each club and will speak on, ‘The future: obstacles and opportunities’.
There is no cost to register, but if you would like to attend the club for Phillip’s visit here are the details…”
Commissionings and encouragement in Bathurst Diocese
Many will be encouraged by recent news from Bathurst.
The Bishop’s Newsletter – Summer Edition 2023 is available for download (PDF file).
Bishop Mark Calder writes, “This is the second of a semi-regular newsletter from me as a way of trying to increase communication around the diocese.”
Highlights include:
COMMISSIONING SERVICES
Grenfell – Tim Smith 11am Sat Jan 21
Oberon – Jonny Lush 1.30pm Sun Jan 22
Cowra – Ben Connelly 1.30pm Sat Jan 28
West Wyalong – Steven Klouth 11am Sat Feb 11
Cobar – James Daymond 11am Sat Feb 18Ordination—04 Mar, at the Cathedral, 10am – James Boardman to be made deacon.
There’s also a parish profile for the Parish of Kelso which is vacant (and in a strategic location).
There’s plenty to pray about for Bathurst (and other country dioceses). In particular, pray for Bishop Mark Calder and his wife Susan with oversight and responsibilities for such a large area of NSW. Pray for those beginning ministries from Oberon to Cobar, and for the churches in which they minister. Pray that the men and women of these country areas might thirst to hear the gospel and to know Christ.
Photos – Commissioning services held over the weekend for Tim (and Jess) Smith at Grenfell and Jonny (and Liz) Lush at Oberon. Via the diocesan Facebook page.
When insurgents infiltrate God’s church — Jude 1-4
“When insurgents infiltrate God’s church –
God’s people always have been and always will be under threat from false teachers who infiltrate the church. Jude, the brother of James (and Jesus), warns us about this reality. He insists that if we wish to preserve God’s saving truth for the next generation, we must contend for it.”
At St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London, William Taylor has recently begun a sermon series on the Letter of Jude – A Necessary Conflict.
The Letter of Jude is as relevant today as it ever was. Here’s the first sermon in the series.
Make 2023 the year of truly knowing Jesus
“There is a time for everything, the Teacher of Ecclesiastes tells us. Whether it is a time for birth or for death; to plant or to uproot; to weep or to laugh; to mourn or to dance – understanding the time in which we live as we enter 2023 really matters.
Knowing our time will dictate how we should act, what we should do, what we should prioritise, and what we believe is most significant. So, what is the time in which we live?…”
– At The Australian Church Record, Ben George has both challenge and encouragement.
Last week to register for Launch 2023
This is the last week to register for Launch Camp
– 30 January – 2nd February 2023
– Katoomba, KCC and CMS sites
Launch camp has been an enormous help to so many students as they begin uni days with Christian friends and enfolded in uni Christian ministries.
The aim of Launch is to work out together what it means to live for Jesus in the transition to post-school life – years that are likely to be the most formative years of life.
Bathurst Diocesan Prayer Diary 2023
Please be encouraged to pray for the churches and people of the Diocese of Bathurst using their 2023 Prayer Diary.
Downloadable here as a PDF file.
One of the prayer requests for Day 15 –
“Please pray for the financial sustainability task force, that you would give them wisdom as they seek to lead our diocese to a better financial position. …”
A weary pilgrimage
“I remember going to a weekend conference some eighteen months after I was converted, and a girl there asked me if I was a Christian. I answered, ‘Yes’.
‘Tell me’ she said, ‘what I have to do to become a Christian’.
I didn’t have the faintest idea where to begin.
As I write this now, I remember well the mixed emotions that swamped me. First, joy—because more than anything else I wanted to see people converted. Second, shame—because I didn’t know what to say. Third, anger—(with myself) for allowing such a situation to arise. All these emotions muddled together produced the only possible answer: ‘I’ll take you to someone who can tell you’.
So I did that, and she was converted—but not by my words or witness.
That incident left an indelible imprint on my memory, and that day I vowed that such a situation would never happen again. In the future I would know exactly what to say.
So I set out to learn the gospel. Which I did. …”
– from John Chapman in his book Know and Tell the Gospel. Extract published by Matthias Media.
‘Compassion…’
“Predictions about the global economic outlook for the new year are not encouraging. Nor is the news of the ongoing aggression by Russia in Ukraine. Given the rise of powerful despots and divisions within western democracies, is there anything that we can do?
Two and a half millennia ago the Jewish people were in exile. In 586 BC Babylonian forces had rampaged through Judah, conquering Jerusalem, razing its walls and its temple to the ground. Political obliteration seemed inevitable as the cream of the population was taken to Babylon.
Yet the extraordinary thing was this:…”
– At The Anglican Connection, John Mason continues to remind us that our needy world waits to hear the truth about God.
How a man reading the Bible revolutionised my Bible reading
“For most of the time I have been a Christian, talking about personal Bible reading has made me uneasy.
I usually regarded people who talked about their deep quiet times (often early in the morning) as spiritual skites. That was simply jealousy, because most of my attempts at quiet times could be likened to the Wright brothers’ experiments with flight. A lot of effort, airborne for a short time, then a crash.
Weirdly enough, it was a combination of the pandemic and technology that came to my rescue. …”
– Anglican Media Sydney’s Russell Powell shares some great encouragement for you.
‘Amazing Grace…’
“A close source pointed me to an article by Marylynn Rouse in Christian Heritage London, about the 250th anniversary of Amazing Grace. She comments, ‘It’s not often that a pop song in the charts can claim to have been around for 250 years. John Newton’s hymn Amazing Grace featured in hit parades all over the world in the 1960s and 70s, but was written for New Year’s Day 1773. …”
– John Mason writes at The Anglican Connection.
Bishop of Tasmania’s Training Event 2022
From the Diocese of Tasmania:
“On 17 and 24 September, over 500 Anglicans from across Tasmania gathered in Hobart and Launceston to attend the annual Bishop’s Training Event.
In its 6th year, it was our biggest year yet, and we enjoyed encouragements from Bishop Richard and Wei-Han Kuan (the State Director of CMS Victoria). We are making the videos of the keynotes available and you can watch them below.”
Don’t Check the Boxes
“Over the years, as far as I can tell, perhaps the single most significant ‘breakthrough’ for me in daily Bible intake was learning to ignore those little boxes next to each of the daily readings.
If you’re a box-checker, I cast no stones. I simply share my own weaknesses and flaws by testifying to the breakthrough. Silly as it may sound, when I stopped checking the boxes, something started to change in my attitude toward God’s word. …”
– Here’s some encouragement from David Mathis at Desiring God.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…